Marnus Labuschagne Pleased to Be Catalyst to Australia’s Fightback Against Pakistan

Debutant Marnus Labuschagne was happy that his hardwork on his bowling over the past few months paid off on Day 2 of the first Test between Pakistan and Australia in Dubai.

Labuschagne dismissed Asad Shafiq just before tea and then ran out Babar Azam soon after the break to turn the match on its head. Pakistan lost six wickets for just 72 runs and were dismissed for 472 when at one time they looked like scoring much more.

"I've been working on my bowling for a long time but the last three months specifically, just getting a bit faster through the air and making sure I'm bowling the right length," Labuschagne said in the post-day press conference.

"I’ve been working really hard with Sri [Cricket Australia consultant Sridharan Sriram] and John Davison back home, making sure we get that length right. So it was pleasing to see it come off today, I was able to come on and not go for too many runs and also lucky enough to get a wicket as well,” he added.

Labuschagne further stated that the reason his introduction into the attack worked so well was because it made the batsmen think a little differently about how to tackle him.

"It was a change-up, a change in momentum, a change in the rhythm of the batsmen and just making them think a little bit differently about how they want to play shots and stuff like that.
"That's probably the key, trying to get them to think a little bit differently with someone who bowls a bit of leg-spin.”

Australia ended Day 2 on 30 without loss, with debutant opener Aaron Finch on 13* and Usman Khawaja on 17*.